Only once during the NFL’s almost 20-year history of bringing regular-season games to London has one of the teams gone on to win the Super Bowl at the end of that season. The 2025 Denver Broncos could well become the second.
That might seem like a ludicrous claim after a nervy, thoroughly unconvincing 13-11 victory over the hapless, winless New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but while the now 4-2 Broncos were undoubtedly slightly fortunate to leave the UK as victors, you could argue they are, in other ways, unfortunate not to be 6-0.
Both their defeats have come on walk-off field goals, including one on a retry after a rarely-called leverage penalty, and they have already produced a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback win over the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles.
And most importantly, they might just have the best defence in the NFL – a unit that single-handedly sent them back to Colorado with a winning streak now at three games. They held the Jets to a paltry 82 yards of offence, sacking Justin Fields nine times and leaving him with a pitiful final passing line of 9-17 for 45 yards.
The only previous London game participants turned Super Bowl winners were the 2007 New York Giants – part of the NFL’s very first foray to the British capital, as Eli Manning led them to an ugly 13-10 victory in the rain on a churned-up Wembley pitch over an uninspiring Miami Dolphins outfit. Sound familiar?
While the now 0-6 Jets are probably at least marginally better than that Miami rabble, which only avoided becoming the first 0-16 team in NFL history by the narrowest of margins, new head coach Aaron Glenn will surely feel his seat heating up on the flight back to New York after becoming the first coach in franchise history to begin his tenure with six straight losses.
Few in attendance at Wembley in October 2007 would have predicted the Giants hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft the following February but after sneaking into the postseason as a fifth-seeded wildcard, they won three play-off games on the road before upsetting Tom Brady’s all-conquering New England Patriots in the big dance and denying them a perfect season. Could Denver repeat the trick?
That Giants squad was successful on the back of its defence, which led the NFL with 52 sacks that season, and the modern-day Broncos have a unit that is just as dominant – certainly when it comes to getting to the quarterback.
They now have an NFL-high 30 sacks through just six games (having led the league last year with 63) after racking up nine more in London, with Jonathon Cooper (2), Justin Strnad (1.5), John Franklin-Myers, Eyioma Uwazurike, Nik Bonitto (now with an NFL-high eight on the season), Zach Allen, Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones (0.5) all adding to their tally as they gave Fields fits.
They had to defend short fields on each of their first two drives at Spurs Stadium. Firstly, the Jets finally earned their first takeaway of the season when Andre Cisco recovered after Jarvis Brownlee forced Troy Franklin to fumble at the Denver 37 before Kene Nwangwu produced a 72-yard kick-off return to the Broncos 24.
Neither challenge proved an issue for the lockdown Denver D as the Jets settled for a Nick Folk field goal after just three plays on each occasion and when they forced three-and-outs on the next two NY drives, Gang Green had a pathetic one cumulative yard to show for their first four possessions.
They finally got their maiden first down of the game with just over two minutes of the first half remaining yet only trailed 10-9 when Folk booted another field goal early in the third quarter.
That was largely because while second-year quarterback Bo Nix had some decent moments helming the Denver offence – as an efficient half-time passing stat-line of 15 of 20 for 125 yards and a neat 16-yard TD pass to fullback Nate Adkins, plus 26 rushing yards with his legs, showed – a combination of ill-timed penalties, decisively losing the special teams battle and an anaemic rushing attack led by JK Dobbins (14 carries for 40 yards) kept the Jets in the contest.
Things got even dicier for Denver when an Austin McNamara punt pinned them at their own three-yard line and a Quinn Meinerz hold in the end zone led to a New York safety for an 11-10 lead late in the third quarter. Two straight three-and-outs from an offence that was suddenly unable to muster even a single first down meant things were approaching crisis point.
A Wil Lutz field goal with five minutes remaining, at the end of a drive that included a crucial third-down conversion from Nix to Marvin Mims for 26 yards, at least put the Broncos back on top 13-11 but the defence was still required to bail them out one more time.
With the Jets starting at midfield, on their own 43, with 2:23 left on the clock, Denver not only had to stop New York but keep them out of field goal range. And the defence duly stepped up, sacking Fields twice, including for a 12-yard loss on fourth down to end the game.
Perhaps the old adage that ‘defence wins championships’ has become outdated in a modern NFL replete with high-octane passing attacks and dual-threat QBs but a shutdown D and an offence that can pick its moments should still make for a potent combination come January. The offensive part of that is still a work in progress for the Broncos, although it’s hard to believe they will continue to be as hapless as they were today and before this aberration, they were one of just four teams to have put up at least 20 points in each of their first five games this season.
A fading Kansas City Chiefs and an injury-riddled Los Angeles Chargers mean the AFC West feels winnable for the first time in many years and head coach Sean Payton will believe he can ride the defence deep into the postseason.
At times, this Denver team feels like something of a throwback and if they can channel the 2007 Giants in more than just an ugly London win, they might prove that defence can still win the day.
